e3723029   
   XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone, comp.mobile.android   
   From: pmcook@gte.net   
      
   On Mon, 14 Dec 2015 06:43:41 +1100, Rod Speed wrote:   
      
   >> You can't even tell if the cellphone was being   
   >> *used* during an accident for a bunch of reasons   
   >   
   > You can actually if you know the time of the accident accurately   
      
   Think about that.   
      
   In order to know if a cellphone was being *used* at the time of the   
   accident, you need to know the time of the accident.   
      
   There are two *huge* problems with that information.   
      
   1. Nobody is holding a stopwatch during an accident, and it's   
      (possible, but) unlikely to find a watch or clock in the car   
      that suddenly stops at the time of the accident, so the time   
      of the accident is usually a guess (although, with OnStar   
      systems and GPS tracking, that guess can be better than a   
      guess by humans would likely be).   
      
   2. You have to narrow down the use of the mobile device which   
      is hard to do. For example, if someone was holding the phone   
      looking up a contact when the accident occurred, there would   
      be no record of that. Likewise, in a hundred other situations   
      using the cellphone, there would be no record of such use.   
      
   3. People lie.   
      
   4. The police don't subpoena the cellphone anyway, in most   
      accidents (and legally, they can't take it from you, even   
      if they take it when/if they arrest you, they still can't   
      look at it for evidence in the USA, as per the Supreme Court).   
      
   So, cellphone *use* which *causes* accidents (due to distraction)   
   is impossible data. Anyone who quotes what they feel is reliable   
   data on cellphone use during an accident is either a fool, or just   
   plain stupid, because that data just does not exist (and may never   
   exist).   
      
   It wouldn't be impossible to obtain, by the way, as GPS breadcrumbs   
   can be used to track the time of the accident, and *some* cellphone   
   use leaves a breadcrumb (e.g., texting and dialing); however, most   
   cellphone use leaves no breadcrumb (e.g., looking up contacts).   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)